In known projector systems, one ongoing source of waste and inefficiency results from generating enough light to support the brightest element of the image to be displayed, focusing the source light onto an imaging device, and then modulating the source light with the imaging device to generate the image, but at the same time, also throw away the majority of the source light. For many typical images, and particularly for video images, the average luminance level can be about 10% of the peak luminance. That can mean about 90% of source light is wasted at the imaging device in the form of heat internal to the projector. Such projectors thus require thermal management systems designed to remove that heat. This also means that the light source must be over-engineered to supply far more light than is actually necessary, which can add cost and complexity to a system.